PORTLAND — The Reiche PTO and the West End Neighborhood Association on Thursday will host a design charette to develop plans for building improvements at the school.

The meeting is one of five scheduled for Portland elementary schools, including Longfellow Elementary, Lyseth Elementary, Hall Elementary and Presumpscot Elementary.

The Portland City Council provided $700,000 for initial planning of the elementary building improvements as part of this year’s Capital Improvement Plan. A tentative schedule calls for the initial design work to be completed by June 2013. The Portland Board of Public Education and the Portland City Council will decide on a final list of elementary construction projects that could total $46 million. Funding for the projects is planned to go before voters in a November 2013 city referendum.

Oak Point Associates is creating preliminary building and site plans. The firm plans to draw on public input when creating construction schedules and estimated costs for replacing Hall and improving Presumpscot, Lyseth, Reiche and Longfellow. The firm will also evaluate opportunities to balance student numbers across the district in order to address chronic overcrowding at several schools based on their current designs.

The meeting will take place at the Reiche Community Center, 166 Brackett St., between 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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